Welcome to
Elmwood Franklin School
I am delighted to return to the EFS as its interim Head of School for the 2020-2021 school year. After my tenure at Elmwood Franklin, I co-founded a national educational non-profit based in Washington, D.C., which enabled me to work with hundreds of schools throughout the country. This experience reinforced what I learned during my time at EFS: young people, even our youngest, are deeply intellectual, curious, and experimental. They strive, as a natural, undeniable urge, to know how the world works. Great schools like Elmwood Franklin School create safe and inspiring conditions and opportunities for this striving to intensely and constantly occur. This progressive sequence needs to occur across seven domains for children and adolescents to mature equipped to lead thriving lives:
The combination of these categories is sometimes called comprehensive student development or “whole child” education. I have observed two kinds of schools that endeavor to educate the whole child. There are “checklist” schools, which offer classes or programs that specifically but separately address each of the domains without integration. In these schools, their educators use the verb “cover” a lot, as in we “cover” a balanced diet in health class or we “cover” William the Conqueror in history class. The problem is when you cover something, you cannot see or use it.
On the other hand, Elmwood Franklin School is a “blender” school. Blender schools engineer ways to integrate the domains by creating a culture of constant personal stretching combined with expert support. Blender schools authentically address the whole child, instead of the segmented child. Educators in blender schools tend to use the verb “build” a lot: building character, building community, building the foundation for a thriving life.
For 125 years, EFS has been a prime example of a blender school. It is rigorous instead of rigid and joyous instead of indulgent. It is safe, caring, and continually pursuing excellence. I invite you to visit and experience our culture of joyous rigor.
Best,
- Intellectual and academic rigor;
- Cognitive capabilities such as self-control;
- Social-emotional capacities such as resilience and empathy;
- Physical fitness and healthy routines;
- Creative expression;
- Mental well-being;
- Purpose and identity.
The combination of these categories is sometimes called comprehensive student development or “whole child” education. I have observed two kinds of schools that endeavor to educate the whole child. There are “checklist” schools, which offer classes or programs that specifically but separately address each of the domains without integration. In these schools, their educators use the verb “cover” a lot, as in we “cover” a balanced diet in health class or we “cover” William the Conqueror in history class. The problem is when you cover something, you cannot see or use it.
On the other hand, Elmwood Franklin School is a “blender” school. Blender schools engineer ways to integrate the domains by creating a culture of constant personal stretching combined with expert support. Blender schools authentically address the whole child, instead of the segmented child. Educators in blender schools tend to use the verb “build” a lot: building character, building community, building the foundation for a thriving life.
For 125 years, EFS has been a prime example of a blender school. It is rigorous instead of rigid and joyous instead of indulgent. It is safe, caring, and continually pursuing excellence. I invite you to visit and experience our culture of joyous rigor.
Best,
Keith W. Frome, Ed.D.
Interim Head of School
Interim Head of School